Rick Caruso Endorses Karen Bass Over Nithya Raman in LA Mayor Race
Left 33%
Center 0%
Right 67%
1 left · 0 center · 2 right
What happened
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is seeking reelection against City Council member Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialist, in a November 3 election. In the closing days, Samuel L. Jackson, Jane Fonda, and Anthony Anderson released videos endorsing Bass; Jackson said Raman had chaired the City Council’s housing and homelessness committee and “canceled meetings on it.” Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who previously ran against Bass, announced eight days before Election Day that he would vote for her after working with her on recovery from Los Angeles wildfires, and called Raman’s pledge to replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell “reckless and dangerous”; Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes the Pacific Palisades fire zone, also said she would vote for Bass. Raman has the support of the Democratic Socialists of America and Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. Independent committee Estamos Con Nithya, funded largely by organized labor—including more than $10 million from the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters and $6 million from hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick—has been a major spender for Raman; Bass has raised about $3.4 million to Raman’s $3 million, while Raman holds nearly $1.4 million in cash on hand, almost double Bass’s reserves.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 3 articles
2 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 2 of 3
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Samuel L. Jackson, Jane Fonda, Anthony Anderson, Rick Caruso and Traci Park
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 3
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
- Credits another outlet 0 of 3
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
- Unnamed sources 0 of 3
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 26, 14:27 UTC by Breitbart, naming its source.
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage never reports that Hollywood celebrities have endorsed Karen Bass, describing Nithya Raman instead as having "mounted a strong challenge" to the incumbent. Right-leaning coverage treats those endorsements as the story, and Breitbart names Samuel L. Jackson among the stars now backing the mayor. A Times-only reader would not know the incumbent had just collected that Hollywood coalition.
Right-leaning coverage leads with the celebrity videos and their attacks on Raman's homelessness record. Left-leaning coverage leads with a comparison to Zohran Mamdani and with Raman's rise, and never reaches Jackson, Jane Fonda, or those videos.
Did Raman cancel the homelessness-committee meetings Jackson said she canceled?
Bottom line
Breitbart made Samuel L. Jackson's pro-Bass video the news of the mayor's race; the New York Times never mentioned that video and treated Raman as a possible mayor instead.
The receipts — 4 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Jackson accused Raman of chairing the city council housing and homelessness committee and canceling meetings on it
- Jane Fonda's Climate PAC has spent millions backing DSA candidates across America, and Fonda still endorsed Bass
- Anthony Anderson credited Bass with creating the California Film and Television Tax Credit
- Nithya Raman was little known a year ago and is being compared to New York's Zohran Mamdani
The Left View
The New York Times frames Raman as a Democratic Socialist who was little known a year ago but has mounted a strong challenge to Bass, drawing comparisons to New York’s Zohran Mamdani while arguing she “is not L.A.’s Mamdani” and “might become mayor, too.”
The Right View
Right-leaning outlets present the late endorsements as a rejection of a DSA-backed challenger. Breitbart highlights Jackson’s homelessness-committee charge, Fonda’s claim that Bass “knows how to govern” (noting Fonda’s Climate PAC has spent millions backing DSA candidates elsewhere), and Anderson’s line that he will “take the person who built the bridge over the person that’s promising one.” The New York Post reports Caruso warning, “This is no time to turn the LAPD into a laboratory for risky DSA social experimentation,” and asking of Raman’s homelessness record, “Does anybody think that is a success?,” while stressing large outside spending from labor and a Reno-based hedge fund manager.
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument, from the Times, is Raman’s rapid rise from relative obscurity to a viable citywide alternative whose Democratic Socialist identity invites a Mamdani comparison even as the paper distinguishes the two. The right’s strongest argument is the breadth of those closing endorsements—including a former rival, a fire-zone council member, and entertainment figures—tied to Jackson’s meeting-cancellation charge, Caruso’s “reckless and dangerous” characterization of the police-leadership pledge, and Raman’s outside money. The central unresolved tension is whether Bass’s record and that coalition show she has grown into the job on homelessness, public safety, and recovery, or whether Raman’s challenge and outside support reflect a mandate for a sharper left turn that incumbency and celebrity backing are trying to stop.
3 sources
More stories
The week's bottom lines, in your inbox
One email a week: the five stories that mattered and what they actually mean. Free.